Love Your Knees: 6 Exercises to Keep them Supple, Stable, Strong & Pain-Free

Lately, a few students have been complaining of knee niggles or pain so here's my response. Knees are unassuming joints. They don’t twist like shoulders or boast the deep stability of hips, yet they’re asked to carry us through every step, squat, lunge, and stumble of daily life. Sometimes they complain.

Knee pain is one of the most common reasons people limit activity, give up sports, or start believing their body is “wearing out.” But the problem isn’t that knees are weak—it’s that they’re doing an extraordinarily difficult job with a design that relies on balance, coordination, and constant movement to work well.

The Knee Joint

The Role Muscles, Ligaments & Cartilage Play

The knee is often described as a simple hinge, but that description doesn’t do it justice.It bends and straightens, yes—but it also subtly rotates, absorbs shock, and transfers force between the hip and the foot. Unlike the hip, which sits securely in a deep socket, the knee relies heavily on muscles, ligaments, and cartilage to create stability.

This means knees function best when the surrounding muscles are strong, responsive, and well-coordinated. When that support system weakens—through injury, inactivity, or sudden changes in load—the knee tends to speak up. Not because it’s broken, but because it’s exposed.

Knees Carry More Load Than We Realise

One of the most important (and reassuring) things to understand about knees is how much load they’re built to handle. Research shows that during every day activities:

-Walking places roughly 2–3 times body weight through the knee

-Stairs, squatting, and getting up from a chair increase that load

-Running and jumping multiply it further

Knees aren’t failing because of load—they’re reacting to how that load is applied. Long periods of sitting, followed by sudden bursts of activity, repetitive movement patterns, or avoiding certain positions altogether can leave knees underprepared for the demands of daily life.

Why Knee Pain Feels So Disruptive

Knee pain tends to be especially unsettling because it interferes with things we rely on for independence—walking, standing up, getting down to the floor. Pain also changes how we move. We might limp, avoid bending, or shift weight to the other side. Over time, these protective strategies can increase strain elsewhere in the body, creating a cycle of compensation rather than recovery.

Common Myths That Keep Knees Stuck

A few well-meaning but outdated ideas can actually make knee problems harder to resolve:

“If it hurts, I should stop using it.”In reality, avoiding movement often makes knees more sensitive over time.

“Pain means I’m causing damage.”Pain is a warning system, not a structural diagnosis.

“My knees are just bad because of age.”While tissues change with age, knees remain adaptable and responsive well into later life.

What Knees Need

Even in conditions like knee osteoarthritis, strength training is one of the most effective pain-reducing strategies.

Strength Training: Strong muscles reduce stress on the joint. Evidence strongly supports progressive strengthening of:

Quadriceps -front of thigh

Glutes - buttocks

Hamstrings -back of thigh

Calves

Gradual and Appropriate Load: Knees thrive on load that is:

Progressive rather than sudden

Matched to your current capacity

Varied rather than repetitive

Rest alone rarely solves knee pain. Adaptation does.

Movement Confidence: Fear of bending, squatting, or kneeling often keeps pain going. Learning how to move well—and safely—can be just as powerful as building strength.

Consistency Over Intensity: Knee tissues adapt slowly, but reliably. Small, regular inputs almost always outperform sporadic “all or nothing” efforts. You don’t need perfect knees—just supported ones.

6 Exercises for Knee Stability & Strength

Ex 1: Leg slide from seated position: Start sitting upright, core engaged as you slide one leg away and bring it back as far as you can, keeping the heel down. Place it back in the starting position. Alternate legs x 10

Ex 2: Straight leg Lift: Sitting upright, core engaged, slide your leg away until it is staight, flex your toes towards you and tighten your quads to lift & return to starting position. Alternate legs x 10

Ex 3: Sit to Stand: Sitting at the front of your chair with feet & knees parallel, lean forwards until you hover off the chair and stand up. Reverse the movement to sit down. You can start by using the chair seat as a means to push off. Progress to arms forwards as you lean to stand up & as you sit back down. Check your knees remain in line with your number 2 toe. Repeat x 5

Ex 4: Quad Squeeze: Either sit upright or lie down on the bed or floor with a towel or soft ball under your knee. Push your knee into the towel as hard as you can and hold for the count of 5. Your heel may come off the floor. Repeat x 5. Swop legs.

Ex 5: Shoulder Bridge: Lie on your back or bed with your knees bent, heels close to your bottom and a cushion between your knees. Squeeze your bottom muscles, then lift your pelvis and lower back off the floor and down. Repeat x 10

Ex 6: Prone Knee Bend: Lie on your front on a bed or the floor with a soft ball or cushion between your ankles. Check your pelvis is in neutral with your core engaged before lifting both heels towards your bottom and lowering slowly back down. You should feel this at the back of your thighs. Repeat x 10

Summary

Love your knees by moving them freely whether that's walking, bending down to pick something off the floor, or climbing the stairs. If you are in pain but not from injury or anything structural, create some new positive daily habits like moving more, sitting less, loading the joint differently each day, and following the exercises above to strengthen your leg and hip muscles correctly.

If you'd like help strengthening your knees safely and progressively while improving your confidence, join my pilates classes here starting this March (2026). If you cannot make the live classes, you can access pre-recorded knee rehab videos here from the comfort of your home at any time.